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Czar not needed to enforce law

Why should it take a new “czar” to force government officials to obey the law in both letter and spirit? And more to the point, why should Americans believe the bureaucrats will do that, just because of a public relations stunt by Secretary of State John Kerry?

The State Department’s foot-dragging on release of documents – including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails – has become notorious. Officials there do not seem to care that the law requires complete, expeditious release of most public documents.

On Tuesday, Kerry announced he has appointed a “transparency coordinator” – a “czar” in Washington parlance – to streamline how the agency handles Freedom of Information Act requests. She is supposed to implement new recommendations on retaining and releasing public records.

Again, why is a new high-level bureaucrat needed to tell everyone at the State Department to obey the law? And as far as recommendations go, what’s wrong with doing what the law mandates?

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